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Sunday, October 23, 2011

I saw the real trailer for "Solomon Kane" forever ago and thought "that looks cool", then kept an eye out for it for a while, then kind of forgot it. Then I saw this fake trailer on YouTube pretending it was a Van Helsing sequel and someone posted that this movie actually came out in 2009! What the hell? A search on Netflix revealed that it was not available there. A search on Amazon revealed only DVD's in Region 2. I managed to get hold of it by other means and discovered that it is actually a pretty cool movie.

I've only read a couple of Solomon Kane stories, so I don't know how faithful an adaptation it is, but apparently the filmmakers are fans of the original stories. It's certainly a better movie than Conan. It has fun action and an amazing cast (and actually has a big monster at the end, unlike a certain Cimmerian's recent movie). "Ironclad" came and went the same way and was also a really good movie. Why doesn't James Purefoy get the respect he deserves? He brings a solemn dignity and intensity to every role he takes on, but even when he's in movies that ought to be big they don't find the right audience. And what the hell happened to this movie?